There has long been a need to provide a wireless taillight system that can provide enhanced visibility to vehicles and towed vehicles while operating on public highways. Tractors pulling wagons and other farm implements that are not generally equipped with taillight systems represent a significant hazard when used on public highways because of their relative slow speed and the lack of taillight signaling systems. Many farm tractors in use today are not equipped with taillight systems and those that are would need an electrical wire connection to a farm wagon or implement being pulled by the tractor since they also are not generally equipped with taillight systems. The reliability of such hard-wired connections is very poor in what is normally a corrosive and physically demanding farm environment.
The wireless taillight system of the present invention is operative to provide a taillight module that can be easily and removable mounted to the towed wagon or implement and be remotely controlled by a transmitter module that is completely independent from the vehicle. In one embodiment of this invention, the taillight module is operative to provide remote transmitted feed-back signals to the transmitter to provide the user with confirmation that the various taillight functions have been activated and are working as well as low power source conditions that may exist in the taillight module to provide the user with a warning that taillight functionality may be interrupted to again provide enhanced reliability to the user.
In another embodiment, the taillight module is operative to automatically enter into an adaptive logic mode operative to provide an audible and/or visual signal rather than by means of a feed-back signal to the transmitter upon the occurrence of an event such as when the taillight module has not received a signal from the transmitter for a predetermined period of time or when the power of the taillight module's battery has fallen below a predetermined minimum value or, for example, to provide a corrective action such as by automatically activating another lamp to operate at least temporarily in place of one that has failed or automatically turn on the brake lamps when the vehicle carrying the taillight module is decelerating.
Although a variety of systems have been devised in the past to provide vehicles with various types of message systems they have generally been (i) hardwired to a power source or utilized a battery and are incapable of being operated remotely by the operator such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,752,640; 2,813,265; 2,843,952; 4,860,476, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference or, (ii) in the form of sticker type messages such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,106, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference or, (iii) in the form of illuminescent symbols or letters such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,438, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference or, (iv) in the form of an indicia display panel illuminated by a fluorescent light tube having one end engaged with an antenna supporting the display which is lighted when the antenna receives radio frequency signals from a CB radio such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,299, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, or (v) in the form of a taillight module removable mounted on a vehicle in tow that is remotely operated by a radio frequency transmitter that is hardwired to the taillight system of the towing vehicle such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,982, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Not until the present invention has their been provided a taillight module that can be removable mounted on a vehicle and able to be remotely controlled by a wireless control signal transmitted by a portable transmitter module that is completely independent from the vehicle and which of great advantage for use in connection with mobile farm vehicles such as tractors or on horse drawn buggies or other vehicles not ordinarily provided with taillight systems.